YouMail for BlackBerry v2.0 Released With Revamped Interface

YouMail let us play with a beta of the 2.0 version of their app and I have to say I am impressed with the upgrade. They have totally revamped the UI along with some nicely improved functionality. Tom let me know that the new version of YouMail is slowly rolling out to users in App World so I thought it was a good time to mention it now. If you don’t already see it in App World keep on checking at this link.

Check out all the changes below:

1) Streamlined User Interface

The main screen now shows the number of new messages and each caller’s photo or avatar, which can be imported automatically from Facebook.

The message play screen supports fast-forward and rewind, allowing users to get through their messages even more efficiently.

2) Enhanced Organization Tools

Users can access any folders directly from the App, not just the Inbox, including standard Saved, Spam and Trash folders, as well as user-created folders.

Users can turn their voicemail box into a “To Do” list by easily flagging messages for follow up directly in the App.

3) Improved Transcription Experience

The play screen now shows more of the transcribed message text, lessening the need to scroll.

Users can copy and paste directly from the transcription, allowing them to easily insert message text into searches or responses.

4) Faster Voicemail Follow Up

The YouMail App is now integrated with the phone’s default SMS client, enabling users to easily reply to voice messages using TXT messages.

Simpler menus allow users to easily forward and reply to voicemail while including the original voicemail as a MP3 or WAV file.

If you turn off any polling (through one o the settings), the app simply listens for e-mails or txts from YouMail that a new voicemail has arrived, and it only wakes up when there is a voicemail. It then sucks it down from our servers, and has it ready to see/play when you click on the app. It also pulls down the absolute minimum data each time it connects with the servers.

In our beta testing of this version, we didn’t get a single comment about issues with using battery.

You might want to consider disabling the polling by default or forcing some sort of setup process with detailed explanations after the app is installed. I verified that there is no battery drain with polling disabled, but another user was getting very large battery drain due to the polling and I basically had to inform them not to use the polling and use email/sms notification instead.

People can get a bad impression and uninstall before they figure out why it’s happening.

I’m not sure if this is new to 2.0, but I notice there is a small YouMail icon at the top when I have new voicemails. When I originally switched from Sprint voicemail to Youmail, I was disappointed to see that my voicemail icon didn’t work anymore, so this is a welcome feature!